News

Malaysia not ready for nuclear energy - Mahathir

CYBERJAYA, Feb 10 -- Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Malaysia will not build nuclear power plants until there is a safe way to dispose off the radioactive waste generated.

He pointed out that Malaysia did not have adequate knowledge in that field.

"If you have a nuclear power plant, you will accumulate nuclear waste which is radioactive and until now they do not know how to reverse the process.That is why we cannot use nuclear material because it stays on for millions of years.

"We don't want this country to be full of such waste thrown all over the place and affecting people," he told reporters after holding a dialogue with the French business community in Malaysia, here today.

Dr Mahathir during the dialogue was asked about Malaysia's vision on renewable energy sources, after a pledge by Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin to have Malaysia increase its renewable energy use to 20 per cent by 2025.

Stressing the need for non-polluting renewable energy sources, he said Malaysia was working on reducing the usage of traditional energy sources such as oil, gas and coal to lessen the amount of pollution in the air.

"We are trying to generate more power through solar panels. Also there is possibility for us to export clean energy to our neighbours.

"We have a lot of space, we can even use the sea to install more (solar) panels, so the trend is towards that," he said.

-- BERNAMA

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